Admins’ response superficial

To the Editors:

I would like to respond to President Dye’s and other faculty member’s letters of “disappointment” about the “Zionism = Racism” stickers and signs that have appeared throughout the campus in the past month. Although President Dye and Peter Goldsmith, et. al. superficially addressed two problems with these signs in their letters to the editors, namely that they are “hurtful and divisive” and the offenders have not had “the courage to take responsibility for their words,” both letters fail to address the true nature and definition of these statements. The statement Zionism = Racism supercedes speech that is “hurtful or divisive;” this phrase is not hurtful speech, but hate speech. Zionism is defined as the liberation movement of the Jewish people, a belief that Jews should have and are entitled to a homeland. Therefore this phrase is far more than simply insulting and offensive. It attacks the inherent belief that Jews have a right to a homeland. President Dye comments in her letter, “making our campus a truly free space is an endeavor that requires everybody’s efforts, particularly now.” In order to make our campus one that is open and accepting, we must take a stand against speech that is intrinsically hateful and silencing, not. To close our eyes to the hate that is intrinsically a part of this speech is to sanction it.
This phrase is hate speech against Jews who believe in their right for a homeland; the letters have deeper, more disturbing implications. The light criticism of this hateful action depicts a lack of care and action by the administration. The administration has refused to take a stand that these stickers are fundamentally anti-Semitic and hateful, and instead “remind” us we attend a school that values “a liberal education [that] should open and complicate our minds.” What our school’s leaders have neglected to include is that a liberal education should not value hate, the silencing of groups, or ignorance, which is what the phrase “Zionism = Racism” teaches. I would like to direct the administration to other universities, such as Harvard, where President Lawrence Summers unequivocally stated at an address in September 2002 that statements such as this one will not be tolerated as any sort of “knowledge” or “reason” when discussing issues on the campus and within the world at large. On this campus, the faculty has been seriously remiss in addressing this issue for what it actually is: hate

—Daniella Risman
College sophomore

April 25
May 2

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